PYRAMID CORPORATION

Background

Based in Nisku, Alberta, Pyramid Corporation is a privately owned Canadian company servicing western Canada. The company offers a broad range of services, including electrical/instrumentation maintenance and construction, control panel manufacturing, meter proving, well testing, and the specialized repair of ESP submersible pump cables.

With offices throughout western Canada, the company’s fleet drives over 32 million kilometers a year to provide complete maintenance, construction and material procurement services to clients in the petroleum, petrochemical, mining, wood products, agricultural, and industrial sectors. The company presently owns a fleet of 800 vehicles, with its fleet and equipment valued at an estimated $30 million.

Challenge

As a company in the service industry, Pyramid Corporation has a “zero target initiative” – an uncompromising commitment to transparency, accountability, and safety. This commitment is also adopted by the management of its fleet.

Pyramid Corporation’s number one priority was increasing its fleet safety record and operational efficiencies to save costs. While speed and traffic conditions were identified as the main reasons for at-fault collisions, another cause of incidents was the degree of anonymity that came with poor driving behavior.

Pyramid Corporation did not have a way of recording or monitoring adverse behavior or after-hours use of its trucks. Similarly, they needed to ensure it was in compliance with Alberta’s safety rules and regulations.

Also, ongoing costly repairs caused by poor driving decreased the resale value of Pyramid Corporation’s vehicles going to auction.

Fleet Tracker MGS 200

Solution

In 2009, Pyramid Corporation deployed Fleet Complete’s Fleet Tracker with GPS devices in its fleet of vehicles. Pyramid Corporation experienced  significant savings and positive results by knowing the real-time location of each of its vehicles, which helped reduce costs, increase operational efficiency and decrease after-hours use of trucks.

“We have made a policy that each manager must print off this report and post it on the bulletin board of ‘Fame and Shame’.”

– Tim Kohlsmith

More recently, Pyramid Corporation implemented a performance reporting program that allows its managers to utilize information from its GPS devices into monthly reports. The reports provide 40 managers with data on who the vehicle is assigned to and the kilometers driven as well as highlights driver behavior such as speeding, idling, harsh cornering/braking and rapid acceleration. This information helps managers track driver behavior and rectify poor driving habits and other operational issues.

Benefits

In 2009, after deploying Fleet Complete’s GPS devices in its vehicles, Kohlsmith says, “We immediately saw a reduction in the number of collisions and the after-hours use of our trucks. These reductions continued to occur throughout the years and have mirrored the continuous developments and improvements of these devices and software.”

In fact, Pyramid Corporation has seen its collision rate drop by 75%. Since implementing Fleet Complete’s solution, only 1 out 12 vehicles has been involved in a minor collision, versus 1 out of 2 vehicles prior to its GPS tracking system.

Displays total idling time

The reporting tool has been very successful at eliminating driver anonymity and encouraging good driver behavior. Kohlsmith says, “The results have been exceptional. The posting of this reports exploits the will of our employees who do not want to be seen in a negative manner, but rather a positive one. Specifically, no one wants to be known as the worse driver in their area.”

Fleet Complete’s Fleet Tracker also allows Pyramid Corporation the ability to be fully transparent and accountable to clients on charges.

Moreover, the company’s safety track record has resulted in Pyramid Corporation being recognized as a company with one of the lowest insurance claim rates in Alberta.

“We’ve noted how the vast majority of our trucks going to auction have only ever had routinely preventable maintenance throughout the three years they’ve been in our fleet. As a result, we now get a higher amount on the resale of these vehicles.”

– Tim Kohlsmith

An added and surprising benefit of using Fleet Complete’s Fleet Tracker has been Pyramid Corporation’s ability to increase the resale value of their vehicles going to auction due to safer and better driving habits.

As a company steadfast on safety and efficiency, Fleet Complete has enabled Pyramid Corporation to manage its fleet successfully, realize savings and ensure employees understand they are driving a marked truck and billboard for the company.